RAINBOW ROCK-CLIMBING CLUB

I’m a gecko on a wall 

that simulates a cliff 

with rainbow grips 

I’ll touch any colour 

that’ll have me 

midway is high enough 

wary of emotional 

cliff-jumping 

I don’t mean home-

steading like that queer 

you overheard 

at Turk’s talking babies 

after only a month 

I mean relentless 

breathlessness 

forgetting to hydrate 

having met at an awkward 

sex party we now call a date 

we walked for an hour 

in the rain and talked 

I’ve been calling you 

the person I’m excited about 

you thought I didn’t 

like you at first 

I’m wary of a feral quality 

I sometimes inhabit 

Ryan called me 

an outdoor kitty 

I don’t always know 

what I think until I say it 

and then I say it again 

to commit it to memory 

I’m afraid of what 

you’ll commit to memory 

how you see my desire 

when you’re strangling me

I live with a lot of fear 

that somehow 

never really stops me